Coping With Anxiety

Coping With Anxiety
People likely tend to think of anxiety as a temporary
response to some specific stimulus. For example, a person
may be described as anxious about getting some piece of
news. The reality is however that anxiety can be an
extensive condition in itself. Anxiety in this case then
isn't some temporary response, but an entrenched and
chronic condition. This sort of anxiety is actually quite
common, and is thought to be behind only depression as a
frequently occurring psychological problem.

Anxiety is actually a broad term that can potentially
describe a series of conditions. There is certainly overlap
between anxious conditions in terms of symptoms and even
treatment. Essentially, anxiety as a chronic condition
involves being in an agitated state. For some anxious
conditions, this agitation is situation specific; for other
anxious conditions, generalized anxiety in specific, a
sense of agitation seems to be nearly constant.

All people have been in an agitated state at one point or
another. It's an uncomfortable way of being, to say the
least. Considering being agitated for extended periods of
time then can give one an indication of how the person with
an anxious condition goes through their existence. As a
means of avoiding the pain and discomfort chronic anxiety
brings, people come up with different means of coping.
Self-medication is a common response in a person with an
anxious condition. This self-medication can take obvious
forms, such as intaking alcohol or drugs that have a
depressant effect.

A rather common form of self-medicating an anxious
condition, or any other emotional disturbance for that
matter, is eating. Certain types of foods especially seem
to be consumed during anxious states. Sometimes referred to
as comfort eating, these foods are often sweet and / or
high calorie. The logic behind consuming high sugar, high
calorie foods during anxiety or other distress is likely
the immediate sense of physical satisfaction these foods
provide. The problem with this coping strategy obviously is
that these kinds of foods, while possibly temporarily
easing anxiety, can physically damage the body over the
long term.

Avoidance is another not uncommon strategy for coping with
anxiety. In essence, people avoid those situations that
cause an anxious response. When the anxiety-causing
stimulus is quite common or very broad, however, avoidance
as a coping method can become especially problematic, and
can alter the way a person goes through life in a dramatic
way. Thankfully there are effective ways for overcoming
anxiety, permanently so, that are not disruptive or
harmful. Because anxiety is a quite common condition,
effective and safe treatment options are generally not
difficult to find.

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Zinn Jeremiah is a freelance writer. Find help for anxiety
by visiting http://www.hubonline.biz/feel-better-today.htm
or http://www.hubonline.biz/healthy-mood.htm .